Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 437: Walking in the Market with Arms
Just a few days after the post station was withdrawn, the housekeeper of Wen Juren's family came to Li Hongji and asked for money.

Li Hongji forced himself to cheer up and met the visitor. When he learned that the other party was here to ask for money, Li Hongji felt bitter and depressed.

I was dismissed from my post, and right after that, Wen Juren sent someone to ask for the money? What was going on? I never said I would default on my debt. Since I borrowed money from Wen Juren, I must pay it back. But he couldn't pay back eighty taels of silver at all, let alone so much. He didn't even have eight taels of silver!
Li Hongji immediately argued with the other party, saying that when we borrowed the money, we had agreed on a loan period. Now it has only been more than a month, and the repayment date is still a long way off. How could you suddenly come to my house today to ask me to pay you back? I will not default on my debt, but I will not pay you back now. I will naturally pay you back when the loan period comes.

Li Hongji's explanation made the visitor sneer, and he asked Li Hongji directly, this was indeed the agreement when he borrowed the money, but this agreement had a premise. The premise was that Li Hongji had a legitimate job and the ability to repay the money.

But the situation is different now. The news of the imperial court closing down the post stations has spread. The Yinchuan Post Station was closed down. Not to mention Li Hongji, a mere postman, even the postmaster of the post station lost his job.

Now Li Hongji is just an ordinary person who has lost his job, and the Li family has no property. The family relies on the income from Li Hongji working at the post station.

Without a job, there would be no income. How could Li Hongji pay back the money? How could he afford to pay back the money? Now there was only one month left before the loan was borrowed. Li Hongji should still have some savings. At the very least, the bottles and jars at home were worth a few coins. Mr. Wen was kind enough to lend the money, but the money didn't fall from the sky. If he didn't seize the time to get the money back, would Li Hongji have to pay it back in two years?
Who can be sure of what will happen in the future? What if Li Hongji runs away without paying? Wouldn't the money lent be wasted?
The other party's questioning left Li Hongji speechless and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

What the other party said was not wrong. Mr. Wen was able to lend him the money because he was a postman with a legitimate job and a position. But now he has lost his job. If he loses his job, he has no income. How can he repay the money without income?
If it were me, I would probably have the same reaction. If I don't ask for some money back to make up for the loss now, how can I get the money back if time passes?
Thinking of this, Li Hongji felt very regretful. If he had known this, he should not have borrowed money from Wen Juren. So what if the official document was lost? At most, he would lose his job. What's the difference between this and the current situation?
He originally borrowed the silver in order to keep his job, but who would have thought that such a thing would happen in the blink of an eye. The imperial court directly closed the post station, and he owed eighty taels of silver in foreign debt for nothing. He also spent more than ten taels of silver, plus the money from Wen Xinghu, but in the end he still couldn't keep his job. This made Li Hongji feel extremely aggrieved.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Li Hongji immediately insisted that it was impossible for him to pay back the money now. He admitted that he owed the money, but it was absolutely impossible for him to pay it back now! He had written an IOU with Wen Juren at that time, and it was clearly written in black and white. How could he come to ask for the money before the loan period was up?
"Li Hongji, don't be shameless. It's ok for you to return the money today, but if you don't, don't blame the Wen family for being rude to you!" The visitor saw that Li Hongji was unyielding and was determined not to return the money, so his originally smiling face turned cold.

"What? So what if you're rude? You in the Wen family have to be reasonable! You want me to pay back the money before the loan period is up? Absolutely impossible!" Li Hongji was not easily frightened and he immediately retorted sharply.

"Li Hongji, don't make the mistake! There has never been anyone in Yinchuan who dares to owe money to my master and not pay it back."

"Haha, I'll let you see it today!"

"you……!"

"roll!"

"You are so bold, Li Hongji. Someone come here! Give me... Ouch..." Before the man could call on the servants who came with him to teach Li Hongji a lesson, Li Hongji, who had been unable to contain his anger, took action first and knocked the man to the ground with one punch, causing him to roll on the ground.

Seeing that the housekeeper had suffered a loss, the two servants who came with him immediately stepped forward to teach Li Hongji a lesson. However, who would have thought that Li Hongji was strong and proficient in martial arts. In addition, he was already angry, so he did not hold back his punches and kicks. With just three punches and two kicks, the two servants were beaten to a pulp.

Seeing that he couldn't get away with it, the bruised butler got up from the ground and pointed at Li Hongji and said a few harsh words, but Li Hongji didn't tolerate them. He rolled up his sleeves and pretended to beat them again. The butler was so scared that he fled in embarrassment with the help of two servants. Seeing that they ran away without looking back, Li Hongji felt happy for a rare time and laughed out loud.

Li Hongji, who had been feeling aggrieved for several days because he had lost his job, beat up the housekeeper and servants of the Wen Mansion today. He felt much better and was no longer as depressed as he had been in the past few days.

But his momentary happiness brought him into big trouble. Was Wen Juren's housekeeper so easy to beat? Beating Wen Juren's people was like hitting Wen Juren in the face! In Yinchuan, Wen Juren was a well-known wealthy family, and he was also an official. In the whole Yinchuan city, not to mention ordinary people like Li Hongji, even the officials in the government were polite and called Wen Juren a brother.

After being beaten, the butler returned to Wen's house in a panic. He cried to his master and said a lot of bad things about Li Hongji, even saying that Li Hongji was determined not to return the money, and scolded Wen Juren for being blind, saying that asking him to borrow money was a sign of respect for him, and why should he pay back the money he borrowed with his own ability? Wen Juren should not only not ask for the money, but also help him to give him some more money, so that he would be considered tactful.

After hearing these words, Wen Juren's face turned blue with anger. He immediately slammed the table and stood up, cursing, "What a rebellion! Such a wicked man actually borrowed money and didn't pay it back, and even beat people? Is there any law in this world?"

He was a juren, a wealthy man in Yinchuan, but he was humiliated by a commoner who had lost his job. If this matter was left unresolved, how could he, a juren, be so powerful in the future? By then, anyone could just ride on his head and shit and piss on him, and he would lose face, wouldn't he?

A mere eighty taels of silver was actually nothing in Wen Juren's eyes, but he could not tolerate Li Hongji's behavior.

Immediately, Mr. Wen asked the housekeeper to go down first. After thinking for a while, he asked someone to take his invitation to the yamen, and invited the yamen's senior official to his house for a drink that evening.

Mr. Wen had a lot of face, so that night the chief of the yamen came to the banquet. After three rounds of drinks, Mr. Wen told the chief about Li Hongji's failure to return the money he had borrowed, hoping that the chief would do him a small favor.

Upon learning of this, the master was immediately indignant, saying that there were such shameless people in the world? He borrowed money and didn't pay it back, and beat people and threatened them? Was Yinchuan City not the world of the Ming Dynasty? Where was the law?
On the second day, the master sent yamen runners to the Li family to arrest Li Hongji. Li Hongji dared to resist when facing the servants of the Wen family, but he had no thought of resisting when facing the yamen runners from the government, and was immediately arrested and taken to the yamen.

When it came to the first trial, it was proven that Li Hongji owed money, beat people, and made threats. All the evidence was conclusive and could not be denied.

In order to vent Wen Juren's anger, he immediately sentenced Li Hongji to be shackled and paraded through the market. The so-called shackled and paraded through the market means parading a person through the streets in shackles and then tormenting him in the market for people to watch. This punishment may seem like nothing, but it is actually very harsh. A man cannot bear to be tormented by shackles weighing dozens of kilograms. Moreover, after being paraded through the streets, he would be tormented in the market for several days. During these days, he would be exposed to the scorching sun during the day and the cold wind at night. There would be nothing to eat or drink. A weak person would die in one or two days, and even a strong person would not last more than a few days. This was clearly an attempt to take Li Hongji's life!
When Li Hongji was arrested, the person who was most happy was not Wen Juren, but Li Hongji's wife Han Jiner.

Han Jiner had long been dissatisfied with Li Hongji's incompetence. Being young and wanton and greedy for sexual pleasure, she had no interest in Li Hongji at all. In addition, she had secretly found a man outside when Li Hongji was working at the post station. This man was Gai Hu from Yinchuan City.

Gaihu is a street thug, not very old, only in his twenties. He is not as good-looking as Li Hongji, but Gaihu has a skill that Li Hongji does not have, that is, he is very good in bed.

Compared to Li Hongji's silver-plated spear head, Gaihu is much stronger than Li Hongji, and he can satisfy Han Jiner very much every time. In addition, Gaihu's sweet words are not comparable to Li Hongji's. Being with Gaihu makes Han Jiner feel the incomparable joy of being a woman. Compared with the two, in Han Jiner's eyes, Li Hongji is nothing.

After hooking up with Gaihu, Han Jiner had long thought about leaving Li Hongji and living with Gaihu, but Li Hongji would never let Han Jiner go easily. Not to mention that Li Hongji fell in love with Han Jiner because of her beauty, and he spent a lot of money to marry Han Jiner. It has only been a short time since they got married, so how could he give up Han Jiner and let her fall into the arms of other men?
As a man, Li Hongji couldn't do that. Moreover, Li Hongji was very good at fighting. Han Jiner was worried that once Li Hongji knew about this, he might beat her and Gaihu half to death. You know, Gaihu was no match for Li Hongji in terms of martial arts. So Han Jiner had been secretly having an affair with Gaihu without telling Li Hongji.

Now, because of Wen Juren, Li Hongji was arrested by the government and was sentenced to parade in the city. If nothing unexpected happened, Li Hongji would definitely not survive. Who is Wen Juren? Everyone in Yinchuan knows it. If you offend Wen Juren and still want to survive? It's a joke!
So when Li Hongji was arrested by the government and paraded through the streets in chains, Han Jiner was secretly happy. She felt that Li Hongji was definitely dead. Once Li Hongji died, she would be completely free of this man and could be with Gai Hu next.

When Li Hongji was shackled and paraded in the city, Han Jiner no longer had any worries and was no longer shy like before. She and Gai Hu started to have sex together, not only at night, but also during the day. The neighbors who heard the noise shook their heads and sighed, thinking it was not worth it for Li Hongji.

(End of this chapter)